Canadian Parenting and Child Care Community

The Canadian government will unveil plans on Tuesday to allow self-employed people to opt into the employment insurance system to get maternity and parental benefits.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley will announce the new measures on Tuesday, along with safeguards aimed at preventing abuse of the system, a senior government official said on Monday.

Canada has 2.6 million self-employed, and they have been excluded from the system until now. "They don't have a whole lot of support when they give birth to a new child or want to care for a newborn," the official said.

The new rules would entitle self-employed workers to pay into the program for maternity and parental benefits, but they would not be eligible for general jobless benefits if their self-employment fails.